In the Sky With Diamonds
by nashie-chan
Summary: Set during “How to Stop an Exploding Man”. The heroes look to the fire in the sky...and reflect for the first time as their journey reaches a crossroads.


By Samurai-Nashie

Disclaimer: I didn't save the cheerleader, or the world, so therefore, I can't own Heroes. The title of the story comes from the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds". The title probably has nothing to do with the story at all...

Summary: Set during "How to Stop an Exploding Man". The heroes look to the fire in the sky…and reflect for the first time as their journey comes to crossroads.

oOo

When Mohinder looked to the sky, he saw destiny.

It had begun weeks ago, with those first accidental meetings, strangers lost amidst the search for answers, the search for self. In the end, they couldn't avoid it. He knew it the moment he found his father's research, the moment he meant each of them…and he knew that they were tied together more strongly than any person living or dead.

His father's death may not have been the starting point, but it had been the impetus.

Is this the path that we all must take…the reality that brings us together in the end…?

Staying close to Matt's side, he looked towards the bright fire in the night sky, and wondered.

oOo

When Nikki looked to the sky, she saw sacrifice.

She knew about sacrifice, had sacrificed things herself to protect those she loved. So she knew what it was like, knew why he had done it. When people close to you were suffering, there was nothing to be done except put yourself in harm's way, to see distress erase from their face. JShe had expected them to be so _different _after that time they had met…

…but he really was no different from her.

She had done it to save her family, to save herself…

He had done it to save his brother, to save the _world_…

She held D.L. and Micah close, looked towards the burning sky, and prayed to a God she still hoped existed.

oOo

When Noah looked to the sky, he saw the past.

Everything that they had done had been leading up to this, some sort of conclusion that they couldn't escape. In the end…no matter what roads they had taken, it had all led up to something that they had tried to prevent…and in the end…who had they lost? He looked at those paths now, that led up to the crossovers, mentally frowning at where they connected, weeks ago, months ago, years ago…

Had they all really been enemies? They were looking for a better world after all, and in the end, the same people that he had called himself protecting were now protecting him, protecting everyone and everything.

In the past, they had been probably enemies.

Now, on the brink of an unknown future, they were allies.

He wrapped an arm around his daughter's shaking shoulders (_oh_, _Claire, you're _safe…), looking towards the sky, and murmured a silent gratitude.

oOo

When D.L. looked to the sky, he saw the future.

Perhaps it hadn't been the victory that they had wanted - a safe victory, one where the good guys always won and the villains received ultimate justice - but it had been a victory, and it assured that those in New York would still live to see the rise of another morning. He may not have understood it, still could not comprehend what connected them all together except this one extraordinarily gifted curse, but he knew human emotions. And what had happened to all of them - a shared experience, an unbreakable bond - it was the beginning of something. Something important, something revolutionary.

But at this moment in time, as pain lacerated his chest, his wife and son and the innocent little girl huddling around him, he could only think of the present.

The girl had been right - the future was not yet written in stone.

So D.L. squeezed his wife's hand, gazed towards the sky, and hoped.

oOo

When Matt looked to the sky, he saw change.

What they had done hadn't been for nothing - no, everyone's actions always had equal and opposite reactions, and what they had done tonight, what all of them had done would be with them forever. He had known, even without hearing the thoughts of others, the constant murmur of lives in his heads - the fabric of what they had once known would be torn asunder.

He knew it when he first looked into Molly's frightened face so many weeks ago. He knew it when he was in that room with that man looking down at him. He knew it from the moment he encountered Ted's grief…Claire's resolve…Nikki's tragedy…Peter's compassion…

…he knew…and that's why he had still believed…that the future was changed…that…it could…

The fire in the sky faded into darkness…

oOo

When Claire looked to sky, she only saw love.

She had thought it had been missing, ever since her days of simple teenaged worries had dissolved into the chaotic remnants of otherworldly proportions. She had been betrayed, she had been abandoned, she had been lied to…and she had thought that all compassion was gone…but…she was wrong.

She had begun to realize that when the man holding her made a heart wrenching sacrifice to save her. Every time she looked into Peter's eyes, she knew that love and protection still existed for her. And when Nathan - oh, _Nathan _- had appeared, the resolve of his intentions clear in his eyes as he looked at his brother…

"I love you, too."

Claire knew then that she had been so wrong, so incredibly _wrong_.

So she looked towards the fire that blazed, and she _knew_…and she cried.

oOo

**Author's Note** (10 July 2007): I've wanted to write this for awhile.

I would have written Micah and Molly's POVs, but I really don't know much about their characters to offer that reflecting introspect. I've taken some liberties, probably, with this chapter, as I decided not to watch the end of the episode on YouTube before writing this. Ah, well.

R/R.

- Nashie


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